UFC swings, misses in staging Sims-Thomas fight

Let me get this straight: two guys (one of them admittedly tanked on half a bottle of tequila) pummel each other in a street fight on national television, get kicked off the show for their actions and are then rewarded with a chance to fight on the show’s live season finale?

This is the WWE, right? Think again: This is a page from the UFC playbook.

Spike TV announced today that Marlon Sims and Noah Thomas will meet on the undercard of the season five finale of The Ultimate Fighter June 23 in Las Vegas.

Must-see TV? Not even close.

These are two guys who egregiously disrespected the show and their sport by engaging in bare-knuckle fisticuffs on last week’s episode of the reality show in a wild and irresponsible dustup. The fight included Thomas sucker-punching Sims and Sims returning the favor by slamming Thomas headfirst not once, but twice on the concrete patio of the fighters’ house. To punctuate the grotesqueness of the transgression, viewers could actually hear Thomas’ skull smacking against the patio.

UFC President Dana White blasted the antics of the two fighters – and those of Alan Berube, who served as the Barnum & Bailey of the proceedings – and kicked all three contestants off of the show.

White was pointed in his profanity-laced scolding of the fighters, noting that he had worked six years trying to overcome the perception that ultimate fighting is no more than a glorified barroom brawl. Sims and Thomas didn’t do much to help White’s cause.

White took a hard line on the incident, and, frankly, I fully expected Sims and Thomas to have “fought” in the UFC for the last time. Their actions certainly warranted the harsh punishment.

However, not only are the two fighters still very much a part of the UFC, they are actually being welcomed back with open arms to fight on live television in the season finale and pocket some cash for their efforts.

So much for White’s hard line and ensuring the integrity of the sport.

This is nothing short of amazing. Let’s recap for a minute, shall we?

• Unsanctioned fight.

• Sucker punch.

• Intoxicated fighter.

• Head bounced off of concrete – twice.

And the fighters are rewarded? The UFC doesn’t whiff on many, but it blew this one.

I am floored at this news. I was just talking about how Travis Lutter, along with Noah and Marlon, would never fight in the UFC again. I wonder if Dana will be giving this kind of leniency to other punks. Maybe Ruediger makes a come back too.

Not only do I disagree with what you are saying, I think you are overreacting. The only way to prove that the UFC isn’t a barroom brawling organization is by permanently banning two guys that got into a fight? You want Dana to be a judge, jury, and executioner all at once to satisfy your own moral standards.

Guys make mistakes. Especially guys that are training to fight for a living. Dana did the right thing by sending the guys home. They were hurt in the following areas: a) they lost money, b)they lost the ability to further market themselves during the show (fighters, in essence, become their own brand, c) they lost the opportunity to train with the best trainers in the world while staying at a mansion in their downtime.

These guys got more from Dana White by him using wisdom than what they would have gotten if he had overreacted and permanently banned them. Who does that help? Why don’t you just permanently ban Michael Vick, Lawrence Taylor, Lyle Alzado, Dick Butkus, and every other man that didn’t meet your standards. See that didn’t happen and they turned out ok.

I totally agree with you. Maybe if enough fans e-mailed Dana White to reconsider, he might just do that. We should also point out that White did not invite back other fighters he kicked out over the years for breaking the rules which did not come close to fighting in the house.

I can’t decide whether it really hurts the UFC’s image to show the fight. Is it promoting the thug side of UFC or have those guys already been punished enough? I’m not sure.

What I am sure of is that I don’t give a flip about seeing those two losers fight each other. They were some of the worst fighters on the show. I’m disappointed because I don’t want to see a crappy fight. Hopefully the fight will be on the undercard and it won’t be aired.

I can t go with you on this one, they are young stupid kids. THings like that are going to happen, and while kicking them off the show was the right move, giving them Pete Rose treatment is pretty harsh. Asking fighters to act like anything less than fighters is waste of time.

I agree the UFC has an uphill climb to overcome the false perception that it is a brutal “human cockfighting” sport, but, should BJ Penn and his rival coach be kicked off the show for almost coming to blows over picking matchups? What about Ortiz-Shamrock? Granted, they never fought, but only because people stepped in the way. Fighters are full of ego, and pride, its what makes them great. If the UFC doesnt want them fighting, put them in apartments and not in the same house.

Some of you have it wrong…..Dana had to let these guys off the show. They were totally out of line…with that said they cannot be punished forever. The other guys were kicked off the shows for reasons that proved they were not real fighters. These guys are real fighters…and let alcohol and frustration get the best of them. Any one of you ever make a mistake at your job….were you allowed to come back to work? I bet so….only difference here is your job is not fighting.

I like this decision, only for the fact that hopefully we’ll get to see Sims get whooped again. Noah should have done better considering Sims was hammered so maybe we’ll get to see him beat him like Wiman did.

The whole thing is B.S. Dana took a “soft line” on the incident the moment he decided to air the brawl.

He’s locked a bunch of over-testosterone driven males in a house with no outlet outside of training to fight by day and drinking by night. So when a couple of these guys goes overboard Dana vilifies them and justifies it by advertising their actions for his show for profit, then gives them the boot.

Really, the only next “logical” step would be to bring them back. Who didn’t see this coming?

My guess is the only reason they showed the two of them fighting was to help sell the future sanctioned fight. If Dana has the ability to edit what we see on the show and he did not want us to see those two fighting we would not have seen them. A mention on the show about their departure for fighting would have been good enough. By showing the fight on the series he was only marketing them for Ultimate Fighter on June 23rd. The TUF crowd will love it – the rest of us will pick someone to pull for whether we like them or not.

Simms is the guy who was talking trash before his fight on the show, saying he had been in hundreds of street fights, and claiming to be a great striker. Then he comes out from his corner with his chin sticking strait out, with a stupid look on his face trying to be intimidating. I am not a boxer, nor a professional fighter, and even I know better. It was no surprise to me, the next thing that happened was he got clocked, then choked out a few seconds later. He really shouldn’t talk so much trash, it just makes him look stupid when he looses.

Sorry Steve, but I kinda agree with Marc, both these guys were already punished by being kicked off of the show, if Dana wants to give em a chance in the UFC, let him. At most they should be suspended for such stupidity. If Dana kicks people out for fighting, then should he also kick people out for steroid use, drug use, or any other crime committed by a fighter? They only get suspended for that. Using performance enhancers in this sport is effectively cheating, which in my opinion, is MUCH worse then getting drunk and getting into a street fight. The only thing that makes this incident much worse was they did it on Dana’s time, and on his show, which promptly got them kicked off.

I suppose I could agree with the basic premise of your argument Steve. In a perfect world, maybe they would never fight in the UFC (neither guy is a quality fighter so what do I care?). But, hey, it’s a business. If the UFC didn’t sign them to fight in an official match, another promoter gladly would.

Dana made it clear on the show exactly how he felt about their antics and what he thought it did to the perception of the sport. Banning them forever could be considered an overreaction.

yall are doing what dana wants and that is buzz about the ufc to tell you the truth these guys suck they want ever be fighting for a title they will just draw ratings that fight night so there you have it and dana did what he should of did by kicking them off the show and thats about all he should of did but really i wouldnt put them on the fight night cause they wouldnt that great of fighters and how about rampage beating down chuck man i knew rampage was a good fighter but i didnt know the fight was going to go down like that chuck didnt do nothing at all but get caught

I just hate the hypocrisy of the whole thing. On one hand Dana promotes the house fight for a whole week and then comes in and says that it was a blight for the sport. So which is it?

I guess he is taken the Vince McMahon comparisons a tad too serious. The fight between these two guys should mean exactly zero at the gate. It will not be live so TV ratings won’t matter.

The main reason to night have the fight is who wants to see a fight between two guys that lasted under three minutes combined in their fights. I am getting sick and tired of having to watch these TUF guys that have absolutely no business being on a show. Pete Spratt is being brought back. Are you kidding me?

UFC does so many thing right that I guess they are allowed a couple of screw ups.

Juggo say it with us….puncuation. If you had a valid point or statement I never read it. I could get mast the first two lines be fore havinga seizure.

My opinion, kick em off the show. book this match. Make some money. Morals in this sport, while nice, mean nothing if it doesn’t make any money. Those two gaveamericaa free fight. UFC makes no money there, the fighters make no money there. they all make money in the cage. So book it and have a nice day.

Juggo say it with us….puncuation. If you had a valid point or statement I never read it. I couldn’t get past the first two lines before having a seizure.

My opinion, kick em off the show then book the match and make some money. Morals in this sport, while nice, mean nothing if it doesn’t make any money. Those two gave America free fight. UFC makes no money there, the fighters make no money there. They all make money in the cage. So book it and have a nice day.

Who cares!!!! you guys are crying that these guys aren’t getting banned from the UFC and that this makes the UFC look bad. These guys received their punishment by getting kicked off the show and now in true UFC fashion they get a chance to finish the fight on t.v. I think it’s great, add them to the fight card and let them go at it. Another ingenius idea from Dana White. Go UFC!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think you meant Iceman and not Juggo. I agree…..punctuation was invented for a reason.

Anyway, I dont think preventing them from fighting is a reasonable punishment. Yes they acted stupid but these are strangers brought together to fight. If anything, I would say the introduction and allowance of alcohol in the house is highly questionable.